Last Updated on October 25, 2017 by
We’re going to dive right into the social media aspect of marketing your business online, eventually revealing how audience engagement varies among the main platforms. To begin with, it’s necessary to understand and grasp the fact that social media engagement is a core part of any social media strategy – yet we see so many people skimping on this major business opportunity. To truly be successful in social media engagement, you need to bring your strategy to another level by being proactive, listening and ENGAGING.
How Proactive Social Media Engagement Can Go a Long Way
What we’re essentially saying is that this shouldn’t be a “passive” experience – rather than waiting for clients to reach out to you, take the steps to proactively engage with people who mention your brand or product.
Multiverse Fun Fact: According to NM Incite’s State of Social Customer Service Report, some 71% of consumers who experience a quick and effective brand response via social media are more likely to recommend that brand to others. This compares to just 19-percent of customers who don’t receive a quick response.
Get the idea?
But how do you start being proactive on social media? What are the key tactics? As online marketing experts, Multiverse Media Group answers these questions from the perspectives of problem resolution, transformation of customers into advocates and, perhaps most importantly, listening.
If you happen to be a business owner who hasn’t yet taken a head-first dive into the sometimes abysmal waters of social media marketing, it’s really not something that’s a choice any longer. You must include social media monitoring in your social media strategy…so let’s take a look at that first.
Including Social Media Monitoring in Your Social Media Strategy
From a marketing perspective, we can tell you that social media monitoring is one of the biggest missed opportunities for today’s businesses. This approach, which is also known as “social listening,” involves monitoring what people are Tweeting, chatting or talking about on social media platforms with regard to your company…and the issues that affect it.
When we say “engage in effective social monitoring,” we’re referring to using a social media management tool to track brand mentions, competitors, key industry terms and relative keywords; you will find that this “listening” enables you to identify opportunities as they occur…and reach out to them immediately.
How can we explain this a little easier?
Let’s say, for example, you own a moving company: The right social media monitoring strategy, in your case, will allow you to see anyone in your neighborhood who Tweets about an upcoming move, offering you the opportunity to extend your services to these prospects. Simultaneously, the whole situation will allow you to identify an individual who may be complaining about your service without mentioning your Twitter handle, so you can reach out and rectify the issue before the negativity spreads like a wildfire.
Multiverse Tip: Proactive social listening opens the door to unique insight into your customers, competitors and industry influencers, and you’ll definitely build a better relationship with your followers while getting a leg up on your competition and improving your ROI (Return on Investment).
Retaining Existing Followers and Clients Through Social Media Engagement
While it is true that many businesses are doing an excellent job of sharing content that attracts and engages new followers and clients, the problem is that too often they neglect the engagement required to RETAIN existing followers…
Why is this so important? Among a myriad of other reasons, this involves thanking your social media followers, doing it in a fashion that proves you’re an engaging company. In addition to literally Tweeting “Thanks for Following,” there are several other ways to truly impress your followers while showing gratitude; these can include:
- “Following” people back.
- Sharing others’ content with your own followers.
- Calling these companies or followers out by name; while many social media users have come to expect the occasional message or follow-back, few expect to be referred to by name.
- Sharing a relevant piece of content from a new follower, whether it’s a Facebook post, Instagram photo or YouTube video…this can be a significant moment for that individual.
“There is no ROI in anything if you don’t learn how to use it.” — Gary Vaynerchuk, founder of VaynerMedia
Examining the Value of Social Engagement
It’s not just us here at Multiverse Media Group that believe social media marketing is valuable because of the way it allows companies to directly engage with their customers while building brand presence and ultimately selling more product – there’s a consensus among brand marketers that ecommerce will never be the same with the arrival of this approach.
For many, social media is the channel that is relied on for recommendations of products, music, sports and a multitude of other interests. As more and more social media platforms such as Twitter begin to place great emphasis on the visual media – i.e. photos – while linking them to purchasing opportunities found on platforms like Pinterest, brands will have to measure visual content as a form of “word of mouth” marketing.
Ultimately, one thing is crystal clear as we see it: Social content marketing will continue to grow in scope, becoming more ubiquitous as brands are forced to make the “social revolution” an integral part of their marketing efforts…essentially needing to learn how to become social media experts in both usage and in measurement.
As you consider your place in the social media landscape, ask yourself these questions:
• How is your company looking at measuring social engagement?
• Do you believe these are the right areas to focus on?
• Are there other approaches you’ve witnessed that seem more interesting?
Multiverse Media Group can help you answer these queries, creating a social media marketing strategy to boost your business to stratospheric new heights. Be sure to send us your questions and comments below!
